Teachers' union calls evals "junk science"
The number of students opting out of standardized tests in New York has increased to about 166,000, a group contended, and the state's teachers' union is urging the state Education Department to dump using the tests to evaluate educators.
The New York State United Teachers union, which has advocated for the opt outs, said that about 32 percent of teachers move from one category year to year in their evaluation scoring, but with students not taking the exams, it creates "junk science" to use the tests to evaluate teachers.
"With more than 150,000 students opting out, a volatile and unstable state growth model will become more volatile and unstable," the union said in a statement. "The pool of students with 'similar characteristics' will be smaller, and that means the volatility and instability will be greater."
The group, United to Counter the Core, which opposes the standardized exams, saidthe number of students in New York opting out of the exams hit 166,000 this week, based on news reports and anecdotal evidence. The English tests started Tuesday.
The state Education Department has countered that despite the opt outs, there will be enough information from other exams and in-class evaluations to judge teachers.
"We are confident the department will be able to generate a representative sample of students who took the test, generate valid scores for anyone who took the test, and calculate valid state-provided growth scores to be used in teacher evaluations," state Education Department spokesman Jonathan Burman said in a written statement.
Currently, student test scores account for 20 percent of a teacher's evaluation. But the state Education Department is developing new standards based on a budget deal struck by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Legislature on April 1.
The issue, however, is that each teacher has a "growth score" that is based on their students' year-to-year improvement on at least 16 tests. But with students opting out, some teachers won't have the 16 tests needed for their evaluations.
The state has a system in place for teachers, such as those that teach art or physical education, that can substitute some testing in classes where 16 tests aren't given. Those teachers are assigned "student learning objectives," known has SLOs, by each district to help calculate students' progress through the year.
But NYSUT said using the SLOs in lieu of the exams is problematic.
"The State Education Department is making it up as it goes along," NYSUT said in a statement. "The growth scores drawn from state standardized tests won't be returned to schools until August. It would be completely inappropriate -- and against SED's own regulations and guidance -- for districts to go back 11 months and somehow try to rig together anything that's meaningful or accurate."Teachers' union calls evals "junk science":
